1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of composite label webs and to method of making and to method of applying labels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 2,213,666 to L. J. Burke granted Sept. 3, 1940 discloses die cut pressure sensitive labels arranged in book form and having complementary die cuts. U.S. Pat. No. 2,620,205 to C. W. Vogt discloses a web with lateral slits which aid in web position adjustment. U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,834 to C. Schroter granted Mar. 31, 1970 discloses a composite label web having wavy side edges. U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,039 to C. Schroter granted Oct. 23, 1973 discloses a sectionally subdivided bilateral sticker tape roll. U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,083 to W. A. Jenkins granted Jan. 1, 1974 discloses a hand-held labeler of a type adapted to dispense labels from a composite label web. A composite label web in roll form is advanced through the labeler stepwise. The labels have straight leading and trailing edges made by butt cuts which are perpendicular to the longitudinal extent of the carrier web. A label is brought to a printing position where the label is printed with selected indicia. The label remains completely adhered to the carrier web at the printing position. Thereafter, the just printed label is advanced to a label applying position under the applicator roll. When the leading edge of the just printed label reaches the place of label separation at the delaminator, its entire leading edge must simultaneously separate or delaminate from the carrier web. There is considerable resistance to delamination and the separation or delamination force is at a peak. When there is "cold flow" of the adhesive at leading side edges of the label, an additional amount of separation force is required at this peak. This considerable resistance at the start of delamination is a contributing factor to breakage of the barrier web both at the delaminator and at the places with the drive teeth engage the carrier web. The high forces required to delaminate the entire leading edge of a label at the same time must be overcome by correspondingly high forces of the web advancing mechanism. There is also the tendency of the label to resist delamination to such an extent that the label sometimes tends to follow the carrier web about the delaminator. When the just printed label has been advanced to the label applying position, the trailing marginal edge of the printed label remains adhered to the carrier web until the printed label is pressed onto the item to be labeled and the printed label is pulled away from the carrier web. In the Jenkins patent, a wide composite web is provided with feed and butt cuts and finally the wide composite web is slit into a plurality of narrow composite label webs which are wound into rolls. The butt cuts which define the leading and trailing edges of the labels are straight and extend across the wide composite label web along a lateral line perpendicular to the longitudinal extent of the web. These cuts are made by straight knives of the rotary cutter. Each time these straight knives cut the wide composite web laterally, there is a sudden peak in the cutting force required to make the lateral cut and the force is distributed over the entire edge of the knives. This is less than desirable when cutting cloth labels that are required to be dispensed in a hand-held labeler. Uncut fibers resulting from incomplete severing at end edges of the labels are intolerable because such fibers prevent reliable label delamination.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 24 14 541 to H. P. Ast dated Oct. 9, 1975 discloses a composite label web of fully die cuts spaced labels having contoured leading and trailing edges.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,706,626 to Thomas M. Smith et al granted Dec. 19, 1972 discloses a composite label web for use in a computer printer in which lateral or transverse butt cuts are made in the label material along lines perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. Such butt cuts were sometimes made along straight lines which were very slightly inclined with respect to the perpendicular to distribute the cutting forces on the rotary cutter.